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Saturday, 03 July 2010 20:42 |
FC Porto make sensational swoop for Sporting captain Moutinho
Portugal midfielder set to sign for Dragons
 The captain, talisman and symbol of Sporting, Joao Moutinho, looks set to leave the Lisbon club and sign for arch rivals FC Porto. Portuguese media outlets have been awash with the story throughout today (Saturday), although no official announcement has yet been made by either club.
Two sports dailies, A Bola and Record, broke the news this morning that directors of Sporting and Porto had met in the early hours to thrash out a transfer for the 23-year-old Portugal midfielder. TV and radio channels quickly took up the story, with a five-year contract supposedly being lined up.
Moutinho’s buyout clause is upward of 22 million euros. Should it be paid in its entirety it would shatter the record for a domestic transfer between Portuguese clubs.
The news will come as a huge body blow to Sporting and their supporters. Only last week new coach Paulo Sergio said Moutinho would be retaining the captain’s armband, and the player is held as a shining light of the club’s famed Alcochete academy. The Lisbon outfit have resisted big bids for Moutinho from abroad in the past.
Porto president Pinto de Costa is known to be a big admirer of the player, and the fact that his counterpart at Sporting Jose Bettencourt today refused to deny that negotiations were ongoing lends credence to the belief that the transfer will be confirmed within hours or at most days.
by Tom Kundert
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I am far from being a Moutinho fan, but he was Sportings captain, no? You would figure that he wouldn'd be sold to another Portuguese team, nevermind one that's better than you.
Sporting's off-season is laughable. How can they sell their current face of the franchise to a rival? I would say Bettencourt lost the plot, but I'm not sure he had one to begin with.
That being said, I'm not sure why Porto would want Moutinho. He'll be fine in Liga Sagres, and will have a better year just because the players around him are better, but he's nothing in European play. If Porto pays more than 8 mil they are crazy.
Porto is the s*******t club in portugal and in the world, all he will learn is how to buy refs.
He'll also be moving somewhere where he will be treated well by both the staff around him and the supporters, he will be made to feel wanted.
As for Sporting I dont understand why they keep doing buisness this way. We lose out last season on Ruben Micheal, had the chance to sell Moutinho to Everton 2 summers ago I want to say but no now sell to Porto a team we play at least twice a season. If Sporting think that Maniche, Veloso(if they dont sell him) Matai Fernadez are more than capable of producing in mid field they are wrong. Next time reelection comes up the soner we get rid of Bettencourt the better
s.o.b. Cant wait to see his face when Sporting are CHAMPIONS and porto finish in 4th place.!!!!